Present day high performance downhill skis are characterized by metal ski edges on composite laminated structures formed from epoxy plastic, high strength woven fiber material such as carbon filament or Kelvar filaments; glass fiber/epoxy material and the like. Such skis may include a top cover of a suitable decorative form in materials such as melamine or phenolic plastics. In all such cases the metal ski edges are sharpened to provide adequate edging on ice or hard pack snow surfaces encountered during downhill skiing.
One problem with such skis arises during their transportation either by car or air. To transport such skis the pair of skis are strapped together as a unit and either placed on a ski rack on a car or are placed in a ski bag for transportation by air. Such handling causes the sharpened ski edges to come into contact with other objects. Furthermore, such handling can crack the top corners of the skis or damage the tops and bottoms of the skis. If the objects are abrasive or hard they can dull or nick the sharpened edge surfaces in an undesirable manner. Alternatively, the sharpened metal edges can damage articles or objects which come into contact with the exposed edges.
In order to avoid such damage various ski coverings have been proposed to protect a metal ski edge.